Ant/Plant Mutualism: Nectar Sucrose Hydrolysis & Specialization

Postsecretory Hydrolysis of Nectar Sucrose and Specialization in
Ant/Plant Mutualism
M. Heil et al.
Science 308, 560 (2005);
DOI: 10.1126/science.1107536
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REPORTS
560
is sufficient to confer strong regulation by
animals miRNAs. Thus, fortuitous targeting
of foreign RNAs by cellular miRNAs could
be widespread (21, 22).
References and Notes
1. A. J. Hamilton, D. C. Baulcombe, Science 286, 950
(1999).
2. H. Li, W. X. Li, S. W. Ding, Science 296, 1319
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3. K. D. Kasschau et al., Dev. Cell 4, 205 (2003).
4. P. Dunoyer, C. H. Lecellier, E. A. Parizotto, C. Himber,
O. Voinnet, Plant Cell 16, 1235 (2004).
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6. W. X. Li et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101, 1350
(2004).
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174 (2004).
8. M. Heinkelein et al., EMBO J. 19, 3436 (2000).
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(2003).
10. J. M. Vargason, G. Szittya, J. Burgyan, T. M. Tanaka
Hall, Cell 115, 799 (2003).
11. D. P. Bartel, Cell 116, 281 (2004).
12. M. Kiriakidou et al., Genes Dev. 18, 1165 (2004).
13. M. Lagos-Quintana, R. Rauhut, W. Lendeckel, T. Tuschl,
Science 294, 853 (2001).
14. J. S. Jepsen, M. D. Sorensen, J. Wengel, Oligonucleotides 14, 130 (2004).
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J. Virol. 67, 5411 (1993).
16. C. Llave, Mol. Plant Pathol. 5, 361 (2004).
17. H. Seitz et al., Nat. Genet. 34, 261 (2003).
18. S. Mi et al., Nature 403, 785 (2000).
19. A. T. Das et al., J. Virol. 78, 2601 (2004).
20. S. Lu, B. R. Cullen, J. Virol. 78, 12868 (2004).
21. J. Brennecke et al., PLoS Biol. 15, e85 (2005).
22. B. Lewis, C. Burge, D. Bartel, Cell 120, 15 (2005).
23. We thank S. W. Ding, B. Cullen, and P. Zamore for
critical reading of the manuscript and access to
data; members of the Voinnet lab for discussions;
and R. Wagner’s team for excellent plant care. Supported by an Action Thématique Incitative sur
Programme from the CNRS, the Fondation pour
la Recherche Médicale, and the Université Louis
Pasteur, Strasbourg.
Supporting Online Material
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DC1
Materials and Methods
Figs. S1 to S4
References and Notes
16 December 2004; accepted 8 February 2005
10.1126/science.1108784
Postsecretory Hydrolysis of
Nectar Sucrose and Specialization
in Ant/Plant Mutualism
M. Heil,* J. Rattke, W. Boland
Obligate Acacia ant plants house mutualistic ants as a defense mechanism
and provide them with extrafloral nectar (EFN). Ant/plant mutualisms are
widespread, but little is known about the biochemical basis of their species
specificity. Despite its importance in these and other plant/animal interactions, little attention has been paid to the control of the chemical composition of nectar. We found high invertase (sucrose-cleaving) activity in
Acacia EFN, which thus contained no sucrose. Sucrose, a disaccharide common
in other EFNs, usually attracts nonsymbiotic ants. The EFN of the ant acacias
was therefore unattractive to such ants. The Pseudomyrmex ants that are
specialized to live on Acacia had almost no invertase activity in their digestive
tracts and preferred sucrose-free EFN. Our results demonstrate postsecretory
regulation of the carbohydrate composition of nectar.
Many plants produce nectar in their flowers
(floral nectar) and on vegetative parts Eextrafloral
nectar (EFN)^ to mediate their interactions
with animals. The chemical composition of
nectar strongly affects the identity and behavior of the attracted insects and thus the outcome of the interaction (1–3). Particularly
important chemical factors include amino
acid content (4–6) and the ratio and amount
of the main sugars: glucose, fructose, and
sucrose (3). However, previous studies have
focused on nectar as a Bstanding crop,[ leavDepartment of Bioorganic Chemistry, Max-PlanckInstitute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Strasse 8,
D-07745 Jena, Germany.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed at FB 9
BioGeo-Allgemeine Botanik/Pflanzenökologie, University of Duisburg-Essen, Universitätsstraße 5, D-45117
Essen, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]
22 APRIL 2005
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SCIENCE
ing open the question of how its chemical
composition is controlled.
Floral nectar is produced to attract pollinators, whereas EFN acts to defend plants
indirectly Esee (7) for a description of EFN in
more than 80 plant families^. Most interactions among animals and both floral and
extrafloral nectars are thus believed to be
mutualistic. Highly specialized mutualisms
are surprisingly rare in nature, because they
are associated with specific coevolutionary
problems (8). In mutualisms in general, one
partner provides a service for the other and
receives some kind of reward (9). In defensive ant/plant mutualisms, the presence of
ants serves as an indirect defense mechanism
and, in return, they receive food rewards and/
or nesting space (10).
Ant/plant mutualisms differ widely in their
specificity and thus are particularly suitable for
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quently, produces pale yellow seeds (Fig.
4A, left). Transgenic Tas expression restored
anthocyanin synthesis (Fig. 4A, right) because
of a strong decrease in CHS siRNA levels
(Fig. 4B). Tas-expressing plants also exhibited developmental anomalies, including
leaf elongation and serration (Fig. 4C),
reminiscent of those elicited in Arabidopsis
by viral suppressors interfering with miRNA
functions (3, 4). As in mammalian cells, Tas
enhanced miRNA accumulation (Fig. 4D),
independently of their nature or mode of
action, suggesting that it suppresses a fundamental step shared between the miRNA and
siRNA pathways that is conserved from plants
to mammals.
These results indicate that RNA silencing
limits the replication of a mammalian virus,
PFV-1, and that a cellular miRNA contributes substantially to this response. As a counterdefense, PFV-1 produces Tas, a broadly
effective silencing suppressor. Because all
our experiments were conducted with Tasexpressing viruses, because of the essential role
of the protein for replication (15), the strong
effect of Tas on siRNA accumulation observed
in Arabidopsis could account for our failure to
detect siRNAs in mammalian cells (fig. S1).
Therefore, we do not yet rule out their implication in the antiviral response reported here.
Our findings with miR-32 and PFV-1 were
in fact anticipated in plants by Llave, who
pointed out several near-perfect homologies
between Arabidopsis small RNAs and viral
genomes (16). The chances of a match between cellular miRNAs and foreign (i.e.,
viral) RNAs increase proportionally with the
size of sampled sequences. The extent to
which cellular miRNAs will be selected to
target pathogen genomes upon their initial
interaction with viruses may vary. Endogenous viruses might effectively coevolve
with miRNAs for defensive or developmental purposes (17, 18), such that viral control
might eventually constitute the sole function
of some cellular miRNAs. Exogenous viruses
with high mutation rates could, on the other
hand, rapidly escape this miRNA interference
through modification of the small RNA complementary regions (19).
Our results support the emerging notion that
miRNAs might be broadly implicated in viral
infection of mammalian cells, with either positive or negative effects on replication (5, 20).
They also indicate that virtually any miRNA
has fortuitous antiviral potential, independently of its cellular function. Moreover, because
the repertoire of expressed miRNAs likely
varies from one cell type to another (11), this
phenomenon could well explain some of the
differences in viral permissivity observed between specific tissues.
Note added in proof: Recent findings
indicate that a single 8-oligonucleotide seed
(small RNA positions 1 to 8 from the 5¶ end)
studying mechanisms that determine speciesspecific interactions (11). Whereas foraging
ants are attracted by plant-derived food rewards in facultative interactions, obligate ant
plants (myrmecophytes) house and nourish
specialized ant colonies, which defend their
hosts against herbivores, pathogens, and
competing vegetation Ereviewed in (10)^.
Although both partners appear to be vitally
dependent on such interactions, the mutualistic association even in the case of obligate
myrmecophytes is transmitted horizontally:
Both partners reproduce independently, and
the mutualism has to be established anew in
each subsequent generation (12). Such mutualisms are easily exploited by parasites or
Bcheaters[ (13), and several parasites exploiting the plant-derived food resources have been
described in ant/plant mutualisms (14–16).
Filters excluding other species have therefore
often been predicted (10). However, the
existence and/or relevance of such filters for
highly specific mutualisms such as ant/plant
interactions have rarely been investigated
(17, 18). EFN appears to be an easily accessible target for exploitation by nonsymbiotic
or even parasitic species, which, if they
competed with the resident ants, would
reduce the overall efficacy of the mutualistic interaction (19). We therefore assessed
whether the EFNs secreted by related plant
species having varying degrees of association
with ants differ in their chemical compositions and whether those compositions are
affected by any postsecretory mechanism.
We compared the EFN of four Central
American Acacia myrmecophytes to the EFN
of related yet nonmyrmecophytic species.
Myrmecophytic Acacia species secrete EFN
constitutively to nourish specialized mutualists, whereas the other species secrete EFN
only in response to herbivore attack; this EFN
attracts nonsymbiotic ants and thereby functions as an induced defense mechanism (20).
Experiments were conducted at two different
sites in Mexico. In our Bcafeteria[-style experiments, we offered nectars of myrmecophytic
and nonmyrmecophytic species, together with
solutions of glucose, fructose, sucrose, and a
mixture of these three sugars, to nonsymbiotic
ants (species foraging in the vegetation and
not regularly associated with Acacia myrmecophytes). Equal amounts of solutions at a
standardized concentration were offered on
the natural vegetation. All foraging ants arriving at the experimental site thus could
freely choose among them. Ants feeding on
the nectar droplets were counted repeatedly
over at least 2 hours (21).
The species secreting the EFN was a
significant source of variance in the ants_
attendance EP G 0.01 according to one-way
analysis of variance (ANOVA) for all four
feeding experiments (Fig. 1)^. Nonsymbiotic
ants (at least 11 species in total) significantly
Fig. 1. Ant attendance to sugar solutions and EFNs secreted by certain Acacia species. Cafeteriastyle experiments were conducted at two sites to test for attendance by the locally occurring
nonsymbiotic ant species (A) (21). The same liquids were offered to two species (P. ferrugineus
and P. mixtecus) specifically inhabiting Acacia myrmecophytes (B). Ant attendance is expressed as
a percentage of all feeding ants that were attracted to one particular solution; bars represent
means þ SE. Nonmyrmecophytic species (A. coch., Acacia cochliacantha; A. farn., Acacia farnesiana;
and Leucaena, Leucaena leucocephala) are shown in gray; myrmecophytes are shown in black. The
type of sugar solution was a significant source of variance in the number of ants attracted to the
different solutions (P G 0.01 in all four cases, one-way ANOVA on absolute total ant numbers, n 0
4 days each for nonsymbiotic ants and n 0 5 colonies each for specialized ants). Calculation of a
priori contrasts revealed a significant (P G 0.001) difference between the EFN of myrmecophytes
and the EFN of nonmyrmecophytes (see table S1 for all contrasts tested). See supporting online
material for localization of the two study sites, coast and Isthmus.
Fig. 2. Sugar profiles and invertase activity in EFNs. Chromatograms give relative abundances of
sugars in the EFN of nonmyrmecophytic [(A), gray] and myrmecophytic [(B), black] species. Each
sugar resulted in several peaks, which were identified by mass spectrometry (G, glucose; F, fructose;
S, sucrose). Inserts at left: Invertase activity in the nectars is expressed as mg of glucose released per
ml of EFN per minute, and bars represent means þ SE. Species was a significant source of variance
in invertase activity (P G 0.01 according to univariate ANOVA, five to six samples per species), and
post hoc tests [least significant difference (LSD)] revealed that invertase activity in the EFNs of all
myrmecophytes was significantly (P G 0.05) greater than in EFNs of all nonmyrmecophytes.
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REPORTS
preferred the EFN secreted by nonmyrmecophytes to that of myrmecophytes (Fig. 1A). In
contrast, two species of specialized Acacia
ants (Pseudomyrmex ferrugineus and P.
mixtecus) preferred the EFN of myrmecophytes to that of nonmyrmecophytes when
they were subjected to a comparable experimental procedure (Fig. 1B).
The EFN secreted by myrmecophytes thus
provides a valuable food source for the
A
resident ants but is not attractive to nonsymbiotic EFN-feeding ants. Floral nectar or
pollen can contain ant repellants in order to
avoid ant/pollinator conflicts (22, 23). Why is
the EFN secreted by myrmecophytic Acacia
species so unattractive to potential competitors of the resident ants? In the choice
experiments, solutions of sucrose were much
more attractive to nonsymbiotic ants than was
the EFN of myrmecophytes (Fig. 1A). Su-
B
Nonsymbiotic ants
15
Coast
Specialized ants
P. ferrugineus
30
b
10
a
10
5
a
Percentage of ants
a
20
b
b
a
b
0
0
A. collinsii
A. hindsii
A. collinsii
A. hindsii
+ sucrose
Isthmus
P. mixtecus
9
20
a
b
6
a
0
A. cornigera
a
10
b
3
b
b
a
0
A. collinsii
A. chiapensis
A. hindsii
Fig. 3. Responses of ants to EFN nectar of two Acacia myrmecophytes (A. cornigera and A. hindsii)
supplemented with sucrose. Responses of nonsymbiotic (A) and specialized (B) ants to nectars
without (white bars) and with (gray bars) added sucrose [equal volumes of natural nectar and
sucrose solution mixed, concentration 2% (weight/volume)] are given as percentages of ants
attracted to these two solutions in cafeteria-style experiments. Nonsymbiotic ants were
investigated at two sites (coast and isthmus), and the specialized Acacia inhabitants (P. ferrugineus
and P. mixtecus) were investigated on Acacia collinsii shrubs. Bars represent means þ SE. The
numbers of ants attracted to nectar with and without added sucrose differed significantly
[indicated by different letters; P G 0.05 according to paired t test, n 0 7 feeding sites (A) or colonies
(B) in all cases].
562
Nonsymbiotic
Specialized
a
a,b
40
b,c
c
c
20
c,d
d
VOL 308
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8
6
P. mixtecus
6
e
P. ferrugineus
5
P. gracilis
Cephalotes minutus
22 APRIL 2005
4
Camponotus nov.
4
Crematogaster spec.
4
Camponotus spec. C
n=6
Camponotus spec. B
e
0
Atta mexicana
[ng glucose µg-1 min-1]
60
Invertase activity
Fig. 4. Invertase activity in
the digestive tracts of several ant species. Ants feeding
on EFN and/or plant sap
were collected from several
colonies (sample numbers
appear below bars representing means þ SE) to
compare their invertase activity to the activity in Pseudomyrmex ferrugineus and
P. mixtecus, two species
obligately inhabiting Acacia
myrmecophytes. Species
was a significant source of
variance (P G 0.001, univariate ANOVA), and species labeled with different
letters are significantly different (P G 0.05, LSD post
hoc analysis). Camponotus
nov., Camponotus novogranadensis.
crose, a common component of EFN, is
generally very attractive to ants (6, 24–27).
Although amino acids can increase the attractiveness of EFN (5, 6), sucrose thus was a
likely candidate to cause the strong differences
noted in our study. Gas chromatography–mass
spectrometry analyses (21) revealed that the
EFN of the nonmyrmecophytes always contained sucrose, as well as varying amounts of
glucose and fructose (Fig. 2A). In contrast,
the EFN of Acacia myrmecophytes contained
only glucose and fructose (Fig. 2B). Adding
sucrose to myrmecophyte EFN significantly
increased its attractiveness to generalists but
made it less attractive to specialized ants (Fig.
3). The lack of sucrose is thus one important
factor (possibly among others) making EFN
secreted by Central American Acacia myrmecophytes so unattractive to nonsymbiotic ants.
Is the absence of sucrose a consequence of a
pre-secretion process, or do any postsecretory
regulation mechanisms affect the carbohydrate
composition of nectar? To study the underlying
mechanism, we quantified invertase activity
(encoded as EC 3.2.1.26 by the Nomenclature
Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, catalyzing the
hydrolysis of sucrose into glucose and fructose)
in the EFN of the study species (21). Invertase
activity was detected in all samples of the
myrmecophytic species we investigated but in
only some samples of nonmyrmecophytic
plants. On average, invertase activity ranged
from 0.01 to 0.09 mg of glucose released mlj1
minj1 in the EFN of nonmyrmecophytes and
0.73 to 1.52 mg of glucose mlj1 minj1 in the
EFN of myrmecophytes (inserts, Fig. 2).
Although it does not exclude a selective
secretion, this result shows that the EFN of the
myrmecophytes is kept free of sucrose by
postsecretory hydrolytic activity.
Because they are highly attractive to many
different ant species (6, 24–26), sucrose and
other di- and trisaccharides appear to be a
particularly important food component for
ants. Why is the EFN with sucrose, then, less
accepted by Pseudomyrmex ants that inhabit
the Acacia myrmecophytes? Disaccharides and
larger oligosaccharides must be cleaved into
their monomers before they can be transported
through membranes. Consequently, invertase
activity has repeatedly been detected in ants
(25, 28–30). Invertase activity in extracts of
the digestive system of the two specialized
Acacia inhabitants (21) was significantly lower
than in seven other species that live at the
same site (Fig. 4). One of the latter species, P.
gracilis, belongs to the same genus as the two
Acacia mutualists but has only facultative
interactions with Acacia myrmecophytes and
can live independent from these plants. This
species showed significantly greater invertase
activity than did the specialized ants (Fig. 4).
Close reciprocal adaptations among Acacia
myrmecophytes and the inhabiting ants P.
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REPORTS
ferrugineus and P. mixtecus became apparent
in this study. Invertase activity, which was
very low in the mutualistic ants_ digestive
tracts, was significantly increased in the EFN
that is secreted by these ants_ host plants.
Because myrmecophytism represents the
derived trait among Central American Acacia
species (20), the enzymatic activity involved
in postsecretory regulation of nectar carbohydrate composition must have been greatly
intensified during the evolution of these
species_ life history. This adaptation allows
plants to present a valuable food source to
their resident mutualists that will seldom be
exploited by unspecialized competitors.
Few enzymes are known from any type of
nectar, and those that have been characterized
function in the antimicrobial defense of floral
nectars (31–33). The invertase activity in the
EFN of Acacia myrmecophytes, in contrast,
affects the composition of the main nectar
components: carbohydrates. To date, the
source of this activity is not known, and even
a microbial origin cannot be excluded. However, we detected free proteins in the EFN of
myrmecophytes that are absent from the EFN
of nonmyrmecophytes. The removal of these
proteins from the EFN removes invertase
activity as well, and data from preliminary
matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization–
time-of-flight mass spectrometry characterization of those proteins are consistent with a
putative plant origin (34). Similar patterns in
invertase activity have been observed in
plants growing in the field (where the EFN
is immediately collected by ants) and in a
greenhouse in Germany (where the EFN
remains on nectaries for days). These observations support the idea that the invertase
activity we observed results from an enzyme
that is secreted by the plant.
The so-called filters that allow for specificity in horizontally transmitted mutualisms
appear to be complex signals comprising
elaborate blends of chemical compounds, and
they often include cascades of consecutively
activated genes. We found that even the presence (or absence) of a seemingly simple and
common compound such as sucrose can be
used as a filter to stabilize a specific symbiotic
mutualism. The absence of sucrose from the
EFN of myrmecophytes is an illustration of
what had been called Badaptive specialization[: an evolved trait that excludes less
desirable partners in a multispecies association
(11). Such simple compounds may have
easily been overlooked in previous studies,
if only because of their ubiquity, and should
be considered in future studies.
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M. Verhaagh for determining ants. Financial support by
the Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft (DFG) (EmmyNoether program and DFG grant He3169/3-1) and the
Max-Planck-Society is gratefully acknowledged.
Supporting Online Material
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DC1
Materials and Methods
Table S1
References
15 November 2004; accepted 9 February 2005
10.1126/science.1107536
Retinoic Acid Controls the
Bilateral Symmetry of Somite
Formation in the Mouse Embryo
Julien Vermot,1*.- Jabier Gallego Llamas,1* Valérie Fraulob,1
Karen Niederreither,2 Pierre Chambon,1 Pascal Dollé1A striking characteristic of vertebrate embryos is their bilaterally symmetric body
plan, which is particularly obvious at the level of the somites and their derivatives
such as the vertebral column. Segmentation of the presomitic mesoderm must
therefore be tightly coordinated along the left and right embryonic sides. We
show that mutant mice defective for retinoic acid synthesis exhibit delayed
somite formation on the right side. Asymmetric somite formation correlates with
a left-right desynchronization of the segmentation clock oscillations. These data
implicate retinoic acid as an endogenous signal that maintains the bilateral synchrony of mesoderm segmentation, and therefore controls bilateral symmetry, in
vertebrate embryos.
The body plan of vertebrate embryos is overtly
symmetric; only later in development do internal
organs move into asymmetric positions. Among
the most obviously symmetric embryonic struc1
Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et
Cellulaire, CNRS/INSERM/ULP/Collège de France, BP
10142, 67404 Illkirch Cedex, Strasbourg, France.
2
Departments of Medicine and Molecular Biology,
Center for Cardiovascular Development, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
*These authors contributed equally to this work.
.Present address: Beckman Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
-To whom correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail: [email protected] (P.D.); julien@igbmc.
u-strasbg.fr (J.V.)
www.sciencemag.org
SCIENCE
VOL 308
tures are the left and right somitic columns, in
which paired epithelial structures arise by
segmentation of the paraxial mesoderm. Somite
development relies on a Bclock and wavefront[
mechanism (1), in which a molecular oscillator
that depends on Notch and Wnt pathways (the
Bsegmentation clock[) generates cyclic waves of
gene expression along the presomitic mesoderm
(PSM) (2, 3). In addition, a caudal-to-rostral
Fgf8 (fibroblast growth factor 8) mRNA gradient
acts as a moving wavefront (the Bdetermination
front[), triggering somite differentiation and
setting the intersomitic boundaries (4). Retinoic
acid (RA) plays multiple roles during patterning
of the vertebrate anteroposterior axis. Altered RA
22 APRIL 2005
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